List of Planets with Rings

Planetary rings are one of the most beautiful phenomena in the Solar System. They are created as a result of the orbiting debris trapped into the gravitational pull of a planet. 

The ring systems of the four gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune exist and none of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) have these because of the closeness of these planets to the Sun and their absence of moons captured. 

The iconic icy rings of Saturn command the imagination, however, recent missions have shown the various dusty bands orbiting each of the outer worlds.

Confirmed Ringed Planets

Source:  Planetary Names

What are these Planet Rings Made Up Of?

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from NASA and mission archives, planet rings are made up of millions of particles; ice, dust, rock, whose diameter ranges between micrometers and meters. It orbits in flat disks around the Roche limit (where tidal forces tear moons apart). 

All four of the eight planets (50 percent) with rings confirmed to be there, are those 100,000s km across, yet mere meters-km thick. The complexity of NASA Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, and Hubble missions was revealed in their braided sub-structures, or shepherd moons within them.

Saturn's Rings

Saturn’s Rings can be seen since the time the telescope of Galileo (1610) looked at it (looking like ears). 

It is made up of 7 primary rings (A-G) together with thousands of ringlets which run along a diameter of 282,000km and are 10-100m thick. 

It is almost pure water ice (99% reflectivity); the size of the particles are dust-to-boulders. 

Cleopatra Cassini (2004-17) disclosed dynamic characteristics:

Weakest, dustiest: 

Found 1979 (Voyager 1): There are four elements (Halo, Main, Amalthea/Thebe Gossamer) covering 226,000km thick Main ring. 

Metis/Adrastea moonlet dark rocky dust hits; ice none was confirmed by Galileo orbiter (1990s). It is invisible from Earth.

Uranus' Rings

Source: NASA Science

Dark, narrow: 13 verified rings (a-n, Greek letters); 1977, through stellar occultation (Kuiper telescope). Voyager 2 (1986) pictured 11, Hubble added λ, ν.

Distance to planet 38,000-98,000 km; dust of carbon (5% reflectivity). Tilted 98deg with Uranus

Neptune's Rings

Source: NASA Science

• Clumpy, dynamic: Voyager 2 (1989) found 5 rings + arcs (Galle, Le Verrier, Lassell, Arago, Adams). 

• Span 39,000-119,000 km; dark silicate/organic dust. Adams ring arcs (Fraternité, Égalité, Liberté) confined by Galatea moon.

• Unique: Incomplete rings; electrostatic charging causes clumps.

Ring Formation Theories

Rings likely originate from:

1. Disrupted moons within Roche limit (~2.44 planetary radii)

2. Moon collisions ejecting debris

3. Captured comets/asteroids

4. Primordial remnants from planet formation

Shepherd moons (e.g., Saturn's Pan) gravitationally confine particles. Gas giants retain rings; inner planets' solar gravity clears them.

Comparisons of the Planet Rings

Beyond Planets: Dwarf planet Haumea (2014 ring); centaur Chariklo (double rings). Exoplanet J1407b has Saturn-scale rings.

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